Topic: Picture of Zelda Wii available here:

You misunderstood something along the way.... Link is right-handed now. Since he is starting development as a right, there will be no reason for a mid-development Hyrule-flipping. This is how Miyamoto explained the flip:

1. Link started off left-handed and there was never reason to change that, so they developed the Gamecube game as normal.
2. Halfway through development they decide to port it to Wii.
3. Wii relies on motion controls, so in order to make it feel natural to the majority of players, Link had to be right-handed to match with most of our hand movements since most of us are right-handed. (Nothing at all to do with "casual" gamers.)

Twilight Princess started with Link as left-handed but changed to being right-handed because of tacked-on motion controls. The new game is meant for the Wii, so it will stay right-handed, as the picture shows. There will be no flip mid-development unless you expect a new system to be created mid-development again that for some reason favors left-handedness?

Does that better explain it? I don't understand why anyone would be concerned about another "flipping" of Hyrule or why Link's holding the shield in his left hand should be surprising.

Oh, and as to your concern about leaving Hyrule as it is, Nintendo has never been so lazy as to use the same exact map, even when setting games in Hyrule. Hyrule looks different every time, so that is nothing to be concerned about (though it doesn't matter either because even if they did, they'd be using the Wii version, which is already based on right-handed Link).

i think some of our signals have crossed, here, Adam, but allow me to address your points first:

(a) Link holding the shield in his left hand has never been featured in any Nintendo concept art like ever, not even for concept art of Twilight Princess. I understand why that is, and i get what you're saying about it being because the Wii version is being worked for right-handed people from the ground up, but it is still a fact that it was the first thing that stood out to me when i looked at that poster (aside from the chick in the foreground). it was not 'surprising', it just struck me as odd, plain and simple, until i finally was able to put my finger on it and then voice my opinion.

believe me, i've explained the whole 'TP was held back for so long for GC because...' thing more than a few times in posts to the main site and here on the forums. i understand the why, but it still looks odd when held up to every other piece of concept art for LoZ to have come out of Nintendo.

(b) as for the flipping, I prefer the original OoT-style layout of Hyrule because i've played that game so damn much over the years (i think i played TP once in comparison... the replay value just wasn't there for me like it was for OoT). It was so weird playing TP for Wii because pretty much everything was still there (updated of course, but for the most part all the major areas from OoT had come back), it was just on the opposite side of the map from where it was supposed to be re: OoT, and to be honest I would really rather they used the OoT-style layout from the GC version of TP for the next game.

as for the crossed signals, you said

where I was thinking in terms of OoT being the original general 3-D Zelda game layout to be mirrored... to which I replied

because i do not prefer the TP flipped-from-OoT general layout and would rather them go back to the OoT-style, but i'm (like you when you say 'if they did, they'd be using the Wii version, which is already based on right-handed Link') figuring they won't because they already started off the Wii versions of Zelda with that layout and they'd rather stick to it to keep their more casual gamers happy/unconfused.
Again, this is all assuming it's going to be set in Hyrule again. :3

As much as I don't want to sound like a Nintendo Dork and go "YEAH SHE'S DA MASTER SWORD!!!!!111". After looking at 2 pics, I'm starting to think that it's true, Maybe this girl is the Spirit of the Master Sword.

If you obsverve the two pics...

• The Diamond shape thing on the girl's chest, even though it's a different colour, looks like the diamond shaped decoration on the Master sword.
• The waves on the girl's robe looks just like the ripple texture on the Master Swords hilt.
• The girl appears to wear fish net stockings in a zig-zag/diamond style, which is the same way the leather is wraped around swords grip.
• The girl's shirt appears to have a gold trim, just like the Master Sword

Here are some reasons why she might not be the Spirit of the Master Sword...

• She looks just like the Fairy queen from the WInd Waker.
• How would Link fight if she's in that form? Unless Link obtains a new weapon...
• Even though she's short, it would make more sence if she was the same height as the Sword if she transforms back as the sword.

EDIT Plus, did anyone notice the brick wall around the edge of the art? and there's a big hole through it? Is this the return to blowing up walls?

@Dragon
I can't tell if you're agreeing with me about the picture or not, so I'll just let it go, haha. Seems obvious to me why he'd be pictured right-handed and probably has nothing to do with the map. They could use either map layout regardless of his handedness. He must be right-handed though for it to feel natural to the majority of Wii players swinging around the remote.

As for the map, honestly, I didn't even realize TP's map was so similar to Ocarina's map... probably because it had been a long time since I played Ocarina and I was playing the reversed Wii version of TP. That's interesting... and also rather lazy, haha. I sure hope if they set it in Hyrule that they take creative liberties with it this time. The 2D games never bothered with such consistency, and I think they were the better for it.

i hate to wax metaphorical, but to add to the 'why she might be...'s, i think it's kinda neat that she doesn't seem to have eyelashes or any defined opening-of-eye features. it's kinda like she's blind (as a real sword would be, if you want to get absolutely technical about it) and Link may be helping to guide her to wherever she's going or whatever she's supposed to do (Link gets Master Sword, Link uses Master Sword for whatever purpose).

Sounds good.

She's the sword and whenever Link sees a bad guy, he whips her out and swings her around.

Like I used to do with my high school girlfriends.

I never did that with my high school girlfriend, but I did find her by pulling her out of a stone in the middle of a forest. Somehow it didn't seem odd at the time.

ooh! just a thought, BlackDragon's concept of her being blind would be an interesting conscept. Maybe at certain points in the game she'll be in bipedal form like that and you have to guide her around dungeons like you you do in ICO.

I dunno, I played the gamecube version originally, and it's not like everything was in the exact same place as OoT (which was a bit jarring, since everything was so familiar) in the original version of TP. So, it probably doesn't matter, they'll just make the map however they want.

@Adam: all i said (that started this mess, lol) was that it was weird to see Link holding a shield instead of a weapon in his left hand. i know the whys, i know the hows, and it still strikes me as odd even so because Link, as a many-times-over recycled video game personage, has been left-handed for so many years (has it been decades yet?). i don't know how else to explain myself on this one, so I'm dropping it too. :3

however, my husband (as a left-handed individual reading this thread over my shoulder e_e;;; ) just took umbrage at the 'Link must be right-handed for the majority' bit of your comment. Personally, I could see Nintendo allowing the user to set the option to have Link be left or right-handed in the game at the outset like some DS games allow you to choose right or left-handed orientation, if it's truly all for ease of play...

Ask him if he wants to fight.

Ah, how obvious, yes, that would of course work, too, if they are willing to put in the effort. I was just thinking in terms of Twilight Princess how they had to choose one or the other. For a game designed specifically for Wii and without such a pressing time schedule (surely Galaxy 2 and Other M are good enough for next year), I don't see why they couldn't do something like that.

I'll back you up dawg. Link's gotta be a righty.

I think Nintendo's too lazy to let players have the option.

The legs actually remind me of the Fierce deity sword in terms of shape. Maybe, maybe not? It shows Nintendo's at least making an effort with this one to do something different.

(lol it kindof reminded me of Saba, that talking sword the White ranger had on the original series of power rangers )

lol, no way -- you guys'll probably kill 'im, and i need him to take out the garbage later.

Relatively sure this is fake...I didn't see Link's Croquet mallet anywhere in the pic.

Its not a fake, its been confirmed. What do you think of this idea for gameplay and plot concerning the picture and the rumors surrounding the woman:

Anyone here see the episode in Dragonball Z - I know it sucks - where Goku and Gohan break the sword, releasing the old guy from his prison? I hope, plot-wise, something similar happens in this upcoming game. It could start where Link is fighting Ganondorf or some other new evil opponent, who is so powerful that he grabs the sword when Link attacks and snaps it in half. This would release the physical manifestation of the Master Sword's spirit, thus resulting in the two defeating the enemy, making him retreat.

The plot would be about fixing the Master Sword, returning the physical entity back into the sword, for in this new form the sword has lost its most important powers. To me, she looks like the polar opposite of Midna, this form one of light while Midna is made of Twilight. In this game the Master Sword would be scattered to various parts of Hyrule, one part remaining with you at the beginning. So after its broken, it would be a normal sword damage-wise. The physical manifestation of the sword would be able to rest within the sword, and come out of it as well to help. This would open a gameplay style similar to the last Prince of Persia game, where the two would be playable at the same time.

First and foremost she would follow you in a designated AI pattern. When in battles you would point the Fairy icon at an enemy and push a button for her to engage in battle, and like Link's Wolf form from Twilight Princess you can attack several enemies at once by holding the button down a drawing a line to different enemies, then releasing it. You could also use her to reach new areas like in Prince of Persia, where you the two characters used each other for double or triple jumps. However, the big difference in this idea is she can't survive long in the physical realm - it drains her life and powers, or perhaps in Link's case his magic; just as long as it balances the game and makes it more challenging. If she is close to death you can summon her back into the sword, where she would slowly regain her health and strength.

To restore the sword to her full power you would need to find the upgrade parts. It would be a more evolved version of upgrading your sword than in previous titles. It would be neat to get elemental upgrades, one of water from the Zora's and a water-based dungeon; a fire-based upgrade from the Gorons in Death Mountain; a earth-upgrade from a dungeon in the Lost Woods, maybe even the Deku Tree or something, hoping its back; and an air upgrade from a dungeon in the clouds, maybe bringing back the Ooccoos - forgot if that's how you spell it. There should be two other types of upgrades, one light and one of darkness for balance. The Light upgrade would obviously be in Hyrule Castle, where you get it from Zelda. Anyways, each time you upgrade your sword it gains more powers both as the blade and physical manifestation. Just like upgrading your hearts and magic meter, she could get more life and magic, and new abilities.

Once the sword is completely restored would be the time that the enemy from before has regained his powers. If its a completely new enemy and not Ganondorf, this could be a way of reintroducing him by swearing his life to Ganon for strength. It could just be has had enough time to regain his health, but there would have to be something new about him to make him more of a threat since this time around Link would be even stronger than before the sword was broken. Perhaps - if Ganondorf his dead in this part of the timeline - he could have received the part of the Triforce that is Power.

Also, if there is some way that could introduce my previous idea of a large piece of land of Hyrule, with Castle Town, Hyrule Castle and some extra islands around it that have broken off from the mainland and are trapped in the skies, then that would make the game even better. Any thoughts on all that?